By Patric Hedlund

A tasteful Craftsman-style architectural building sits at the corner of Askin and Symonds Drive just west of Pine Mountain Village this week. It is beautiful beneath the craggy profile of Mount Pinos. The tips of tall, green pine trees stand sentry behind the roof line.

On Saturday, July 5 workers were making last minute touches to the landscaping. The front door had not yet been set in place. But excitement in the small community is high. The ribbon-cutting July 12 at noon to open Kern County Fire Station 58 will mark the fulfillment of a promise made at the beginning of the 1970s when the Pine Mountain Club subdivision was first authorized by the Kern County Board of Supervisors.

That could have been 44 years ago, says Ridge Route Communities Museum & Historical Society Historian Bonnie Kane, who was the first recreational director for Pine Mountain Club all those years ago, “before the road was in,” she recalls. “They used to fly the employees in on a little plane every day,” Kane reports. Tenneco Corporation still owned the project.

Instead of building a fire station, the county took over a tiny real estate sales cabin and built a fire truck bay on the property the community had donated for the fire station. That cabin was finally condemned in 2006. So there will be a true celebration when the ribbon is cut. After 44 years, firefighters will have a comfortable and efficient home.

Round-table discussion

On Saturday, July 12 a full day of festivities is planned, starting with an informational round-table discussion at the PMC clubhouse from 10 a.m. to noon featuring 4th District Supervisor David Couch; Kern County Fire Chief Brian Marshall; Vince Fong (District Director for Congressman Kevin McCarthy); Jesse Dhaliwal (State of California, Department of Public Health Drinking Water Program); and Jim Beck (General Manager of the Kern County Water Agency).

At noon everyone will meet at the fire station for the ceremonial ribbon cutting.

After the Ribbon Cutting it is time to party

There will be a barbecue and a bounce house for the Pine Mountain community on the PMC golf course, with live music by the Ford Music Machine from 1 to 4 p.m. At 5:30 p.m. Concert on the Greens will feature 360 Horns. If you are not yet fully partied out, from 7:30 to 11 p.m. there will be live music in the Condor Lounge. —Patric Hedlund with Susanne Green

Photo captions:

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the long-awaited Pine Mountain Fire Station 58 will be at 12 noon, Saturday, July 12.

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This is part of the July 11, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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